Behind the Scenes » About

People often wonder why I choose to spend an inordinate amount of my time creating itty-bitty foods that I can’t eat, and while I would love to spin a thrilling tale of generations upon generations of my family handcrafting miniature inedibles for royalty, the reason is actually quite simple: because I love it.

When I was a child, my parents built a dollhouse that was fashioned after the cozy tree house of my favorite storybook squirrel, Miss Suzy, and the miniature obsession flame was ignited. It wasn’t long before I decided to tap into the miniatures market myself, and in grade school I spent a great deal of time trying to persuade my classmates to buy my handmade animal figurines when I should have been paying attention to the math lesson. The animals had tiny little zippers engraved down the center of their tummies, and in a spurt of third grade imagination untethered by the chains of traditional spelling, I decided to dub the business Zippirs. Sadly, Zippirs failed to become the lucrative animal figurine empire I had envisioned, but luckily, my miniatures obsession has since found a new home, the Mouse Market.

Today, I combine my love of miniatures with my training as a pastry chef and a graphic designer to create detailed, realistic foods in 1/12 and 1/6 scale, and perhaps one day, when the public is truly ready, I may reintroduce the Zippirs. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my minis as much as I enjoy making them. Thanks for stopping by!